The Sharecropper Prodigy (21 page)

             
Her answer was quick and simple. The way I like things to be.

             
“Yes, Tom. I’ll marry you. Nothing would make me happier.”

             
I reached down and kissed that neck that I had been craving like it was some kind of delicious, forbidden fruit, since she first answered the door.
I wanted to shout and let the whole world know at one time.

             
“Rachel, I love you so much I don’t have the words. It’s times like these I really miss Ben and his poetic vocabulary,” I said laughing, but profoundly serious at the same time.

             
“I love you just as much,” Rachel answered. She looked at me, smiling that smile that would light up the darkest abyss. “Speaking of Ben, we’d better tell him right away. I don’t want to wait long and I know you want to go to work. I assume you’ll want him to be your best man.”

             
“I wouldn’t have anybody else,” I said. Rachel said she didn’t want to wait long. Thankfully, that eliminated my next question.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

             
As we were walking back to the house, I asked Rachel if I should speak to her papa immediately, or call Ben and tell him the good news first.

             
“Let’s tell Papa,” she said. “He’ll probably be eaves droppin’ on our telephone conversation with Ben, anyway. I’d rather him hear it directly from us, so he won’t think we’re tryin’ to keep secrets from him.”

             
“Good idea,” I said. Anything Rachel could possibly say right now sounded like a good idea to me. I was walking several feet above the ground. I could also breathe again and the feeling had returned to my extremities.

             
Rachel flung open the heavy front door and we rushed inside like a strong gust of March wind. Mr. Winston was coming out of his study where one of the two telephones in the house were. He had a grave look on his face as Rachel shut the door. He walked slowly over to greet us.

             
“What’s the matter, Papa? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or somethin’.”

             
Mr. Winston looked at both of us as he ran his fingers through his thick mane of white hair. “I didn’t see a ghost, but I sure just heard from one,” he said. “I just got off the phone with Billy Sprague, the sheriff over in Cherokee County. They found my truck that Ned Higgins left in almost three years ago. Ned was in it. Or at least what they believe to be his bones were in it.”

             
I noticed the color suddenly drain from Rachel’s face and she became noticeably unsteady on her feet.

             
“Are you alright, honey?” Mr. Winston asked.

             
“Yeah…I…I’m fine, Papa. Just shocked, that’s all. Where did they find the truck?”

             
“In the Coosa River, about a mile from Oak Bluff. Either Ned ran off the road into the water by accident, committed suicide, or somebody killed him and dumped my truck with his body in it.” Mr. Winston shook his head. “Ned could be ornery sometimes and a had a smart mouth, but I didn’t know he had any enemies that would want him dead. I don’t believe he would’ve killed himself. Maybe he just went to sleep at the wheel or something. I guess we’ll never know.”

             
“I…I guess not,” Rachel responded, as if she were talking to herself.

             
I knew there was going to be no telling Mr. Winston about our plans tonight. There wasn’t going to be a telephone call to Ben, either. At least not about our marriage plans. But I knew we’d have to let him know as soon as possible about Ned Higgins being found.

*****

              Rachel walked all through the house, making sure her papa and Lizzie were both gone. She had seen them drive away, headed to the grocery store, but wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. Jim was still on the house somewhere, but he wasn’t an eaves dropper. Jim could care less what anybody else was doing. After Rachel was satisfied she was safe, she picked up the phone and dialed the number for the dorm where Ben lived on the Harvard campus. The phone rung several times before someone finally answered it. The place was so noisy, Rachel could barely hear the person on the other end. Rachel eventually made out the person’s name. It was Norman and he knew Ben, but said he was in class right now. Rachel left her number and told Norman to please have Ben call her back as soon as he got the message. Norman promised he would, but from the background noise that sounded an awful lot like some kind of party, she seriously doubted Norman’s reliability.

             
Rachel began pacing all over the house. She knew she would have to be careful when Ben did call. Everybody in Jones County, except the police, sheriff and fire department were on a party line. You never knew who might be listening in, and some old biddy usually was.

             
Not much more than five minutes had passed before the telephone rung. Rachel ran to her papa’s study and picked it up.

             
“Hello, Winston residence,” Rachel answered.

             
“Hi, Rachel. It’s Ben. How are you doin’?” Ben asked in is usual cheerful voice. “Is anything wrong?”

             
“Hello, Ben. I’m doin’ great. I’ve got some good news, too. I think Tom wanted to be the one to tell you, but I couldn’t wait. Tom asked me to marry him and I of course said yes. We want to get it done in a hurry, too. Tom has been offered a job in Tennessee that he just can’t pass up. I’m sure he’s already told you about it. But he doesn’t want to go without me, and I don’t want
him
to leave without me .”

             
“Well, that’s certainly great news, Rachel. My two best friends in the world tying the knot. I’m as happy as I can be for both of you. Are you just gonna have a private ceremony or somethin’?”

             
“No, no, Ben. That’s why I was callin’ you. We’re just gonna have a small ceremony at the church, a few friends and family, but I know Tom is gonna want you to be his best man. He’s gonna kill me for telling you this, because I know he wanted to ask you himself, so please don’t let on. But I was wonderin’ if it was possible for you to be able to come home for a few days.”

             
“I might have to rearrange a few things, I’m takin’ so many courses, but I’ll figure somethin’ out. I wouldn’t miss your weddin’ for the world.”

             
“Oh, Ben. You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that. You’re sure it won’t interrupt your studies too much?”

             
“Nooo. I’ll catch up. Don’t worry about me. Have you set a date?”

             
“No, we haven’t. We’ll work it around your schedule. I’m not gonna do anything elaborate, like sendin’ out invitations. It’s just gonna be the people we can call or send a quick letter to, and the rest will be word of mouth. The sooner the better. I wish you were here right now.”

             
Rachel was trying her best to sound urgent without giving anything away to whoever might be listening. She was hoping Ben would catch on, or maybe hear something in her voice that aroused suspicion. He was usually very adept at that sort of thing.

             
“I’ll tell you what,” Ben said. “I don’t have any classes next Friday. Why don’t I get on the train Thursday evenin’. I should be there Friday night or Saturday morning at the latest. I wouldn’t have to miss but one or two days of classes that way.”

             
“That sounds wonderful, Ben. And Ben, Tom and I are gonna pay your expenses for the trip and I don’t want to hear any argument about it. I know with the work load you have at school you’re not getting to work a lot at your job. Besides that, you’ll be doin’ us a favor.”

             
Ben was taking every class they would allow him to, and breezing through them seemingly with little effort. He had already received his masters degree and at the pace he was going, he would have his doctorate in a little over a year. The last thing he needed now was a setback, but with the sheriff finding Ned Higgins remains, it might not be avoided. Rachel was sure there would be questions Ben would have to answer since he and Manuel were the last ones to see him alive.

*****

              Rachel and I had a nice supper at a cozy little restaurant in Gadsden, which was technically the first date we’d had where I had picked her up and we actually got to do something nice together. Of course, we would have Ben on the return trip home. His train was due in at nine-thirty at the station just south of Gadsden. I couldn’t wait to see him, despite the bad news we were about to tell him.

             
The train rolled in right on time and I immediately started looking for Ben. He wasn’t hard to spot, because he was one of only three black folks that got off the segregated colored car.

             
“Hey, you two,” Ben yelled when he saw us. He came running towards us, lugging his suitcase. I shook hands with him, and could tell he wanted to hug Rachel, but thought better of it with all the people around.

             
“How are you, Ben? Did you have a good trip?” Rachel asked.

             
“Yeah, it was great. I love ridin’ trains. You two are sure a sight for sore eyes. Both of your faces look absolutely radiant.”

             
“We are both as happy as dead pigs in the sunshine,” I said.

             
“I believe you could have come up with a more romantic simile,” Rachel said laughing.

             
“Well, that’s the one my Aunt Mary Kate always uses,” I answered, faking a look of admonishment.

             
We had borrowed Mr. Winston’s car at his insistence. To my surprise he had seemed happy when Rachel and I told him we would like to be married. I would have thought he would have been adamant about Rachel staying in school and finding a young man from a good family who was studying to be a doctor or lawyer, or something like that. But he said he had high hopes for me and knew I would be successful at whatever I did. He told Rachel he liked the idea of her marrying a home town boy she had known her whole life. He seemed happy that Ben was coming home, too. He hadn’t forgotten for a minute how Ben saved Rachel’s life and probably her sanity. He also admitted that he had been proven wrong about the black man’s capacity for intellect. He also felt guilt a great deal of guilt for making Ben and his family move. He believed his emotions had caused him to make too hasty a decision.

             
We asked Ben if he wanted anything to eat, but he told us he had had a really good supper on the train from the dining car. It was brought to him and the other black passengers, of course. Black folks weren’t allowed to take their meals in the dining car.

             
We jumped in the car and headed for home. I would like to have bought Ben a beer or something to celebrate his return, but after growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father, he had made a vow to totally abstain from all libations. After we’d caught up on everything that had recently occurred, Rachel and I kept looking at each other in the dim glow of the dash lights, wondering when the time was right to break the news about the truck and Ned Higgins being found. I had had pretty good luck lately just getting straight to the point, so I just decided not to wait for Rachel.

             
“Ben, they found Mr. Winston’s truck the other day and Ned Higgins skeleton was in it.”

             
Ben was silent for a minute. I tried to see his face in the rear view mirror to judge his expression, but it was too dark to see in the back seat. I knew there was a service station just a mile or two up ahead so I sped up.

             
“Are they askin’ any questions about it?” Ben asked. “I mean, has anybody been out to your house Rachel?”

             
“No. Not yet,” Rachel said. “The sheriff in Cherokee County called Papa on the phone and told him about it. He had to go over there and identify the truck, of course. They wouldn’t let him have it back, though, until they had done some investigatin’.”

             
I pulled into the station and parked under the security light that stood off to the side of the building. The station was closed and I was hoping we could sit and talk a few minutes without being bothered. I knew the owner, and he lived several miles away, so hopefully nobody would think we were trying to steal something.

             
Ben’s face didn’t have the look of fear or confusion I thought it would. His face had the look of someone who was trying to solve a complicated math problem.

             
“I wouldn’t worry much about it, Ben,” I said in the most positive voice I could muster. “That’s been three years ago. They probably think he just ran off the road or went to sleep at the wheel. They don’t have any reason to suspect you. Mr. Winston knows that Ned was the one with the shotgun that night and you and Manuel were unarmed.”